Dimension lands ‘Whale’ pitch to star Ice Cube

Gambling-themed pic to be set in Vegas

Dimension Films has acquired comedy pitch “The Whale” to be penned by screenwriting duo Jeremy Miller and Dan Cohn as a starring vehicle for Ice Cube, who will also produce.

Set in Las Vegas, the pic centers on a down-and-out gambling addict who teams with a hotel executive to rob a casino.

Provisionally titled project will be produced by Ice Cube and Matt Alvarez through their Cube Vision company; Guy Oseary, Mark Morgan and Brent Emery for Madonna and Oseary’s Maverick Films; and Roy Lee and Doug Davison of Vertigo Entertainment.

“We’ve been waiting our whole lives to do a gambling movie,” Miller told Daily Variety. “We’re both gamblers, and I had actually told Dan before this project was brought to us, ‘Why can’t anyone ever come to us to write a buddy comedy set in Las Vegas?’ The next day we were contacted by Ice Cube’s people with this project.”

“It was sort of serendipitous,” Cohn added.

Miller and Cohn have partnered on more than a dozen film and television projects including Barry Sonnenfeld’s “Last Call” starring Kate Hudson for Disney, and romantic comedy “Heartbreaker,” from a story by Nicolas Cage, set up through his Saturn Films shingle.

The Endeavor-repped team also created and exec produced the ABC series “That Was Then,” and have written and produced for the David E. Kelley skein “Boston Public.”

Ice Cube is represented by the Firm.

Dimension co-presidents of production Andrew Rona and Brad Weston will oversee the project for the studio.